A NORTH west train operator hit by a £2m fine and a series of two-day strikes had some good news for its passengers today.

Arriva Trains Northern is set to restore the vast majority of the services it axed because of a driver shortage.

The company, which introduced a temporary timetable, cancelled 160 trains a day last October because of a serious shortage of drivers.

Now it says it will run 97 per cent of its original timetable services from Monday, February 25.

The return to normal working is the result, says the company, of its long-term programme to train new drivers.

It takes a year to train a driver and ATN claims it has conducted one of the biggest driver recruitment and training campaigns ever seen in the industry.

Managing director Ray Price said: ''With more and more drivers completing their training we have been able to meet our target date and keep our promise to restore the vast majority of services by the end of February.

''We would like to thank our customers for their patience and reassure them we are committed to planning and delivering robust train services both now and in the future.

''We are extremely confident we can keep to the timetable. We are continuing to recruit drivers and will train another 300 over the next two years.''

The company's 600 guards are due to walk out on strike again on Friday and Saturday, March 1 and 2.

Mr Price said: ''That is still subject to negotiation and it is by negotiation that it will be settled.''

He refused to accept the company's troubles had harmed its bid to win the new TransPennine Express franchise from rivals First and Connex.

The company was fined £2m last year for cancelling 1,000 services a week because of the lack of trained drivers.

And the Strategic Rail Authority threatened further fines of £5,000 a month for every driver under target, leading to complaints from other operators that Arriva had been encouraged to ''steal'' other companies' drivers rather than train its own.